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How come his cells are bigger than mine? (pic)

I'm a novice at queen rearing - just dabbled a little last year - read about it all winter, and decided to use the Joseph Clemens method. I grafted a few days ago, and here's what I had this afternoon:

Not all that bad, but I was really hoping for more like his "regular" nice cells:

Like Joseph Clemens I am using a queenless 5 frame medium starter finisher. I prepped it by filling it with frames of emerging brood and stores and shaking in lots of nurse bees then I put it in the location of the full sized hive that I pillaged for resources. So the entire work force of forragers for a strong hive crammed into a 5 frame medium. It's really full of bees. On top of that I've changed in new frames of emerging brood along with clinging nurse bees every few days - you have to check back in a couple of days because they will make queen cells. 24 hours before I grafted I put a frame of eggs/open brood in the middle between frames of pollen and nectar - then swapped the brood frame out for the cell frame with only 11 grafts. Plus I've fed this hive 1-1 continuously. There is tons of natural pollen in my area right now so I have not supplemented that.

So why aren't my cells any bigger? Genetics? He did a better job grafting maybe?

Re: How come his cells are bigger than mine? (pic)

The cells are about half full of royal jelly and not 100% full. Some bees are better at it than others. Joe's seem to have more royal jelly in it than yours.

So you took out the frame of eggs and larvae just before grafting? The bees eats pollen that is converted to royal jelly or worker jelly to feed larvae. No larvae no need to feed on pollen and less royal jelly is fed. Maybe try keeping the larvae in next to the graft, don't swap it out.

The cells are not fantastic but they are not pooe either. If there were only 2 grades, pass and fail I'd say those cells are a pass.

Bees also learn how to make cells. That same hive could make bigger and better cells next go around.

Re: How come his cells are bigger than mine? (pic)

As a queen breeder, the secret is this....Feed your queenless starter/finishing nuc 1-1 syrup to the fifth day. Any later the bees will "wax" the cells. Two of your frames in the nuc should be solid frames of fresh pollen. The more pollen, the more protein that the bees have to feed the larvae. The more pollen, the more protein the young bees have to consume. The more pollen available to be consumed, the more royal jelly the young bees will produce from the mandibular glands that can be used to feed the graft. Thus better quality queen cells and queens will be produced. I am with Jean Marc, those cells do not look that bad. Also Joseph has been keeping bees and grafting cells longer than even I have been alive. So there is truth that practice makes perfect. Keep at it, we need more queen and bee breeders. TED

Re: How come his cells are bigger than mine? (pic)

There are so many variables it is quite difficult to pin down the reason for the difference in the cell sizes. Most of my cells are not as shapely as those in the photo you posted, above. I was making extra efforts to grow cells as large as I could get them, in the hopes that queens produced in those extremely well provisioned and generously proportioned cells would somehow be superior to those raised in slightly less well provisioned and proportioned cells. There may have been positive differences, but after running a few batches of the larger cells, I was unable to discern any.

Maybe Velbert's idea of the age of larvae at graft is the key - I don't know for sure. But, I do know that my old eyes need mighty powerful magnification and lighting before I can easily graft the tiniest larvae without rolling them, flipping them, or missing them entirely. When the light and magnification are right it is easiest to lift them safely and place them safely in the cell cups. Timing of the grafting process is also crucial (especially in my usually very hot and very dry climate), strong lighting only accelerates this drying effect, so I find that I need to complete each graft very quickly or my takes (percentage of successful grafts) goes down dramatically.

Re: How come his cells are bigger than mine? (pic)

Another thing I do differently is, I always feed small pollen substitute patties even when there is plenty of pollen available (I would feed fresh pollen patties - if I weren't so cheap). Sometimes they hardly touch it, but they usually feed on it, at least a little. I only feed 1:1 syrup before and after the flow.